By Joe Pisani
BRIDGEPORT — When Maire Close was growing up in Northern Ireland, she was a typical rebellious teenager, questioning the meaning of life and the existence of God. One night before going to the pub, where she performed with her tin whistle and accordion, she gave him a challenge: “If you really exist, you need to show yourself to me.”
God didn’t waste any time. He took her up on the challenge, and as she recalls, “I had this ineffable experience of God’s love for me that was so powerful, I knew in that moment I was unconditionally loved by him.” In fact, it was so powerful, she eventually left her boyfriend and entered the religious life.
Twenty years later, through her work with the Koinonia John the Baptist, a Catholic fellowship that supports the New Evangelization, she had another experience that changed her completely. She had an encounter with the living Jesus that far surpassed her intellectual understanding of him. It was, she says, an encounter that is available to us all.
“I always knew Jesus died on the cross for us, but I knew it academically,” Sister Maire said. “But to have a life-changing experience of the salvific love of Jesus turned my life upside down.”
Today, she works with Koinonia John the Baptist in Bridgeport, which promotes the New Evangelization through activities, training programs and community, so the faithful can have a living experience of Jesus and his personal love for them.
“I always understood in my head that God is love, but your heart has to be open to that experience,” she said. “We have to help people open their hearts so they can really be able to say, ‘I know I’m not worthy but the Lord is worthy.’”
The Koinonia is all about helping people experience firsthand the personal love of the Risen Jesus. Koinonia is a Greek word that means “fellowship, sharing in common and communion.”
“I realized I had to offer my life completely to Jesus in my unworthiness and acknowledge that he had died for me personally, which is something no one ever told me,” she said.
Koinonia John the Baptist at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Quasi-Parish, at 163 Ortega Ave., offers a School of Evangelization and House of Prayer Course. Sister Maire works with Father Adriano Biccheri, the priest moderator of the parish, Brother Michael, Sister Letizia, Sister Aide and Sister Katka to create “an oasis of prayer” in the diocese.
This summer, with the help of a grant from Foundations in Faith, they sponsored a Summer School of Evangelization in conjunction with Father Claudio Antecini and the Koinonia community at the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brooklyn. Over four days, 36 people participated in the John Course in Discipleship Formation, which promotes discipleship and leads participants to a deeper commitment to prayer, service within the community, a willingness to proclaim the Gospel, and the experience of fraternity.
They conducted the House of Prayer Course at the Catholic Center in Bridgeport, which teaches participants how to welcome people into their home, convey the message of the Gospel and support one another in evangelization.
“Our goal is to establish Houses of Prayer throughout Bridgeport and Connecticut and to form evangelizers who are on fire for Jesus,” Sister Maire said. “Working together in faith and with a vision for a new springtime in the Church, we are committed to New Evangelization and are striving to take every opportunity possible to ensure this becomes a reality.”
The New Evangelization, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel … In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on ‘re-proposing’ the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith.”
Sister expressed her appreciation to Bishop Frank J. Caggiano and Foundations in Faith for their assistance and encouragement.
Carol Incarnacao-Schirm, Grants Manager of Foundation in Faith, said, “It’s been a joy to get to know Sister Maire and Father Biccheri. Awarding the Federation Koinonia John the Baptist a grant recognizes the importance of their evangelization and faith formation work in our diocese. We were glad when they came to Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish because it meant they could apply, along with all other diocesan parishes, for a grant through our St. John Paul II Fund for Faith Formation.”
For further information about their courses in English and Spanish, call 347.858.5634 or 805.300.6913.
Sister Maire believes many Catholics have not had a true experience of Jesus’ unconditional love.
“We need to engage them so their hearts can be transformed by having a lived experience of Jesus—not just a head knowledge but a heart experience,” she said.
A House of Prayer has already been formed at Our Lady of Good Counsel to encourage people to do the same thing in their homes and invite their family, friends and neighbors for one hour a week of reading the Word of God, praying and furthering the fundamental mission of Koinonia, which is to draw people back to the Church.
The Koinonia School of Evangelization offers courses to help people grow in the Lord and share their faith with others. There is also a “Philip Retreat,” offered in Spanish and English, which is inspired by the story in Acts of the Apostles when St. Philip baptized the Ethiopian. The longest program is the “Paul Course,” named after St. Paul, which lasts 15 days and teaches people how to evangelize.
Koinonia began in 1979 after Father Ricardo Arganaraz had a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit. The priest from Argentina was on track to become a papal nuncio but left the Vatican because he realized the Lord was calling him to something different. He withdrew to a secluded mountain area in Italy with three others to pursue a life of prayer, work and study.
During those early years, while living in solitude, they laid the foundation for what would become a worldwide association. As the community increased so did its evangelization efforts, attracting larger numbers of the faithful, who were hungry for a life of prayer, sharing and evangelization in the tradition of St. John the Baptist.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, the apostolate spread through Northern Italy to Europe and Asia and North America. The worldwide community of 15,000 people includes families, consecrated brothers and sisters, and priests.
